The Imperfect Cherry Queen
by Moon's Tide
Summary: Hate me, love me, I'm the head bitch of this place. So bow down to me and pretend you don't know that I am dying inside.
1. Prologue: Rebellion

**A/N: Written in third-person perspective, not first, despite what might seem so in the first few lines and the newspaper.**

**R&R please! I'll try my best to reply.**

**Oh yeah, I DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT hate, or dislike Sakura. This story is about a misunderstood girl and second chances. **

**If you don't like this chapter, please give the next chapter a try? Pweaasse?**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, don't own the picture. Don't you even try to sue me. (Applies to all chapters)**

* * *

_I'm a bitch._

_Yeah. You heard that right. _

_I'm an effing bitch._

_I'm prideful. I envy. I hate those who have everything and lust after those which I do not have._

_I'm going to hell, and you'll hate me. You probably already hate me._

_I know. I hate myself too._

_(Secret: I'm_ _**YOU.**__)_

* * *

**KONOHA PAPERS: EDITION 1**

_Author: Anonymous_

Hi.

I'm the student that nobody notices. I won't be able to change anything out there in the real world, and I'm too shy to even try. But here, people will read.

People will listen.

On the first day of school, I entered the world with rose-tinted glasses and a positive attitude. I expected freedom, I expected change. After all, isn't Konoha Academy the best school in the entire Fire Nation?

Right in the hallways of the school were four girls ganging up on one, verbally a using her to the point where she was curled in a ball on the floor, whimpering and crying. Nobody stopped to help her.

During lunchtime, another girl was sent out of the room crying. Her boyfriend had been seduced and stolen.

Wasn't this your classmate? Your friend? What happened to your pride, your loyalty?

What I thought to be a mere coincidence quickly showed to be routine. Each time, nobody said a word.

At first, I was very confused.

I have never seen, in my entire life, such morbid display of inhumanity. But I believed that people aren't naturally like this. There must have been someone behind this, behind all this.

**I was right.**

A witch. An evil witch had been casting her spell among all, luring them, threading them into a web of deceit, making them lose the last shreds of their humanity. She rules a tyrant, tormenting the innocent and hurting the beautiful.

I hate her. Many agree with me.

What I don't get is why many others love her. Do you not see what she is doing to you? Doing to everyone? What witchcraft has she passed on those poor minds?

But do not fear. We will break you out.

Haruno Sakura.

Your reign has come to the end.

* * *

_"Did you see what that bitch did?! Did you read what came out from her filthy mouth?! Oh, when I find her, I will tear-"_

"Ino. That's enough."

"What do you mean 'that's enough?! Did you even see-"

"I saw."

A red-lipped smile.

"Then how can you...?"

The blonde froze when an emerald green, manicured finger came to rest daintily on her lips.

_"Shh...darling."_

The finger moved, trailing the other girl's body as she reached behind the stiff shoulder to pluck a rose from its vase. Slowly, almost sensually, she tucked the flower behind the blushing girl's ear.

"See? Isn't that so much better?"

The figure leaned back, her silky pink tresses falling over the edge of the armchair like a waterfall. She fingered the white paper lazily.

"Besides," her lips curled, "the 'evil witch' does have a nice ring to it."


	2. Chapter 1: She and All Her Princes

**A/N: This is the first official chapter. For those that are reading it, I hope it is to your liking.**

**Please R&R, and I will try to reply to all the reviews.**

** Visitor: Well, you'll find soon enough why she's called the "witch". Not in this chapter, though. The next, pinky promise.**

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knights**

* * *

"Yo! Teme!"

"Fuck off, Dobe."

The aforementioned blonde was too excited to actually take offense at his friend's words, and continued to literally prance towards the silent Uchiha.

"Look what I found!"

He lunged at the table and slammed the first edition of the _Konoha Papers _onto Sasuke's book. The raven-haired boy growled and shoved the affronting papers from his face.

"Your nonexistent brain, deadlast?" Sasuke sneered, smashing the unwelcome pages into Naruto's hands, "because we both know you weren't born with one."

Naruto waved his free hand dismissively.

With his other, he gingerly spread the neat, albeit slightly crumpled pages onto the table's smooth surface, before pointing at the longest article.

"Did you read that, bastard?"

Sasuke glanced out of the corner of his eye.

"No."

"Then read it!"

A dismissive scoff.

"Make me."

"..."

After snorting at the look of complete frustration on the blonde's face, he turned back to his delighting book of macroeconomics and fiscal policy-

"Somebody challenged _her."_

_-_and promptly froze.

_(Green eyes, pink hair, smiling mouth-_

_"Naruto! Stop glaring at Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Stop scowling!"_

_Acceptance-_

_"-this picture has to be perfect!"_

_Love._

_"Ne, Sasuke-kun?"_

_"Sasuke-kun?")_

"Sasuke?"

"Sasuke?!"

As sudden as the memories _(of springtime, love, care, innocence) _came, they were gone.

His head snapped up in irritation.

"What makes you think that I would care about what happens to her?"

The words alone sounded bitter in his mouth.

Naruto's shocked ocean-blue eyes did nothing to relieve the guilt.

"B-but she's our friend!"

His dark eyes bored into his.

"No. She used to be our friend. She has changed. She's nothing but a stranger now."

Naruto glared at Sasuke and opened his mouth to vehemently protest - _"No! Sakura-chan is our friend! We love her! She loves us!" - _only to find that nothing came out. He could only look away from the empty gaze of his friend because he himself knew that deep, deep, deep inside, the bastard was actually right.

_("Please don't leave me! What did I do wrong? Naruto! Please...don't leave me alone. I don't have anyone left...Sasuke...he already went...left...don't leave me alone as well!"_

_"Gomen, Sakura-chan. It's just that after we started middle school, you changed. We no longer do stuff together, we don't laugh, we just fight.")_

They abandoned her...

_("Please."_

_"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. It's for the best. I think you would be happier as well. Nothing big would change.")_

...and now they have to pay the price.

* * *

His lie was so convincing he started to believe it himself.

* * *

She glanced outside the tinted window, staring absentmindedly at the trees that rushed past as the limousine hurried itself on the way to school. The girl didn't seem to care that she was already an hour late and would be cutting a class.

"Sakura."

Her viridian eyes swirled around to meet a pair of empathetic, chocolate ones. A smile spread onto her lips.

"Sasori-niisan."

The said male was an (adult?) of pale skin and copper, tousled hair, with delicate features and a seemingly fragile build (only a few would ever know how very wrong that is). He was dressed lazily in black slacks, a red, button-down shirt, and all in all, a "babe-magnet", as many would kindly put it. His form was slouched; in one hand he held his precious phone, and in the other a piece of her stray hair.

"You do realize that mom will kill us both if she knew how late we were to school?", he mused, twirling the rose-colored strand between his fingertips.

The rosette giggled, falling back into the arm that supported both of them.

"I think the main question is if you really should miss out on your college classes just to drop me off on the first day of school."

"Of course I will. After all, it is my baby sister's first day of her last year in high school," he stated nonchalantly, still preoccupied with the phone he had situated in his other hand, "how can I just let her go without protection?"

Sakura pouted and punched his shoulder playfully.

"I'm not a little girl anymore, nee-san. Stop treating me like one."

Their playful banter was all but forgotten when the vehicle slowly halted into a smooth stop in front of a magnificent compound with victorian-styled buildings and a sprawling courtyard.

Most would look at it in awe and reverence. She did not.

Sakura felt herself going numb as she slowly locked away everything that she was, everything that she truly wanted to be, and hide it away in the deepest, darkest prison of her mind, curled up until it could be let out again.

Her brother watched her with rapt concern but didn't comment on anything as he knew what she needed, one of the many reasons why she loved him so dearly.

A deep breath.

"Bye."

She got a near imperceptible nod in return.

She watched the sunlight stream in as the chauffeur opened the door. It was just one step outside the open door when Sasori's hand suddenly grabbed hers.

She turned around to see a sight that should have made her do a double-take but which instead led her eyes to water and her throat to clog.

Her normally stoic brother had a tiny smile gracing his lips, which were quivering and awkward as if he hadn't used them in a year. Reaching over beside her face, he tucked in the loose hair behind her ear. "I'm so proud of you. Don't ever forget who you are, and don't ever let anyone else make you think that you're not beautiful, my imouto."

And with that, he planted a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Her eyes watered.

_Will you still love me once you learn what I do in school? Will you still love me once you listen to what they all say about me? Will I still be your little baby sister? Will I still be beautiful?_

A silent sob erupted from her throat.

_No. Nobody will ever love me if they knew what I had done. That's why he can never know. He's the only one I have left._

And so she smiled quickly, hugged her brother tightly, and ran away before the tears finally started to trickle down her cheeks.

* * *

**A/N: Guilty confession: I always loved it in fanfics where Sasori is related to Sakura. I just love his character *squeals* and...yeah.**


	3. Chapter 2: The First Look Into Her

**A/N: So grateful for those reviews!**

**Tiko96: Count on me to keep continuing! It's supportive reviews like these that keep me going!**

**Rerezhang: Thanks for the tip! I changed it, I hope.**

**EmeraldTide: I'll reply to your first review in full later. As grateful as I am for your awesome and influential review in the first half, please do not turn my review box into a fullblown debate of sasunaru, yeah?**

**Aoi Tori Bluebird: Love the support, dude. Gotta appreciate the fact you sent your encouragement. But again, no sasunaru debate, unless you actually manage to cram all that into one review.**

**Again, R&R please!**

* * *

_The First Look_

* * *

"Class, my name is Iruka. I will be your AP Calculus teacher this year. Even though this is the first day of school, please look at the screen and take note of the equations written there. It's due by the end of class."

A collective groan rose up through the crowd. Iruka even had the decency to look shocked.

"What is it with these expectations? What did your first class even teach you?"

Many students grumbled in angry tones that no, their previous class's teacher (Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, and those poor unfortunate souls who had been bestowed upon the youthful Gai-sensei) let their students get to know each other. It was not that they needed to, seeing as most have known each other for three years previous, but many felt it was in their human rights to be allowed to slack off in the first day of school.

Collective murmurs erupted through the crowd, and a single especially brash student stood up, ready to protest-

The door opened.

Everybody silenced at the sight of the female standing in the room.

Large, calculating beryl eyes stared straight and her coral-colored hair flowed behind her as she strolled into the classroom. Her pale, angelic face turned towards the very confused teacher and her primly-clad form bowed at the waist.

"Gomen, sensei. I am late."

The teacher shook himself out of his stupor. Rifling through some files in his computer, he took a quick look at the girl and frowned.

_Just as I thought._

"In my attendance, it says that everyone is accounted for and here. Are you sure you are in the right class, miss...?"

The girl just smiled with her glossed lips.

"Haruno Sakura, sensei," she returned.

The knowledge did nothing to impede his growing confusion. "But in the attendance, it states that "Haruno Sakura" is here and in the class."

Another flash of white teeth.

"Ahh...a friend helped me. That plan was backup."

Iruka frowned. "Backup..?"

"About that...that was just in case I actually didn't make it, but you don't need to know about that, do you, sensei?"

Iruka's disapproving gaze followed the girl as she flounced into the nearest seat - the previous male occupant who just scurried away with a dark blush covering his cheeks - and whipped out a compact mirror with a myriad of makeup material.

"Actually, someone hacking into the school system is my business, so it would be lovely if you told me who it was."

It wasn't supposed to be an option.

"No, no, I'm afraid I cannot disclose such a piece of information," Sakura hummed absentmindedly whilst applying a light sheen of eye shadow, "it really wouldn't be fair if I gave him away, right?"

Inspecting her appearance a few times at different angles and deeming her appearance satisfactory, she snapped her case shut.

"So will you just accept the answer that I did it?" she finished.

"I'm afraid not." Iruka replied stonily.

Sakura's reply was just as flat. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you."

The exasperated teacher sent a condescending look towards the girl.

"If that's the case, then I may have to report this to the principal. I would think that she would be the most displeased-"

"Sure. Bitch to the principal. See if I care." Sakura cut off dismissively.

"_Mind your tongue young lady._"

The girl only sneered. "Nothing will happen anyways. Just a few hundreds and her favorite sake should do the trick. Money, influence, and beauty always rule over everything else inferior to them.

Did I mention that she's my aunt?"

The stunned teacher backed away. "I-Impossible! No such corruption exists here!"

His back hit hit the edge of the table, and his hands grasped the pens and pages littered there, his expression like of how a naive child would be if told that Santa Claus didn't exist. His horror-filled eyes clashed with green ones.

Sakura leaned forward in her desk, the smile on her face widening to an almost feral state.

"Oh, but it _is_ so true."

"No! This school would never-"

He was cut off yet again by the series of fake coughs made by the cause of his distress.

"As entertaining as this conversation is," the rosette replied after garnering his full attention, "you spent most of your time conversing with me. Now there are.."

She raised her head to glance at the clock hanging over the entrance.

"...fifteen minutes until the end of class. I do not think debating with me about the obviously questionable morality of a school is a good way to spent it, don't you agree?"

The teacher followed her gaze and admitted that yes, the girl does have a point, and yes, there were indeed only fifteen minutes left.

If there was there was a single thing Iruka wasn't, he was not stupid.

And so, he begrudgingly snapped at the silent class - who at this point had just been watching this encounter dazedly - back to existence, and told them to make do with the time they had left.

He couldn't even look at the envy-eyed girl who went back to applying a heavy foundation over her face.

* * *

In the principal's office, a blonde, busty woman sat in the leather chair and watched the situation through the security cameras with growing interest. Taking a swig from the emptying sake bottle, she gazed vacantly as the screen darkened once more.

"Damn that girl."

She chuckled.

Another swig.

"Who does she even think she's fooling."

The bottle clattered to the table.

"She'd make a damn good actress in the future."

A melancholy smile crossed her face as she took in the silence, the face if one lost in the memories of a lost love, of hurt...

"SHIZUNE! MOVE THE FILES IN MY COMPUTER! SAKURA HACKED INTO IT! AGAIN! God only knows what that girl is capable of..."

Silence.

"AND GET ME A BOTTLE OF SAKE!"


End file.
